Pocket -- reading the webpages I don't have the time to read, but want to

One of the elements on the side of this blog included a list titled Web Pages I Fully Intend to Read One of These Uncertain Days. These were things I found interesting and hope to read eventually, but they are not a priority so I just listed them there for when I have the free time to get to them. The thing is, however, whenever I do have the free time, I'm not necessarily in front of my computer and when I am in front of my computer I often have more pressing or interesting things I'd like to do instead.

Here's the list of pages I haven't gotten to yet. Some of them have been on that list for a couple of years!

• On African American History & Music
• On America's Violence Culture
• On Asian Leads Replaced by Caucasians in Film
• On a Biomass Eating Robot
• On Codex Alimentarius
• On Creating the Future of Learning
• On Freelance Writing Jobs
• On Gold Strategy
• On Ikhana Unmanned Science and Research Aircraft System
• On John Kent (poems)
• On Martial Arts Scepticism
• On Tales of the Black Freighter
• On the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing in Korea
• On the Importance of History
• On What Postmodernism Was 

Then I discovered Pocket. This great app allows me to save webpages from my browser with one click into my "pocket", allowing me to retrieve them on any computer or on my smart phone during those times I do actually have the time to read something, like while commuting on the bus or subway, while waiting in line somewhere, or in the movie theater during the trailers before the feature starts.

What I like about Pocket is that it renders the webpages in an easy to read format, similar to a Kindle reader, making the reading clutter free and efficient. One can also add tags to the pages to sort them according to keywords. It is not really a feature I have used much yet, but I can see the value in it, and as I start to use Pocket for more focused reading, I will definitely use it. I've tried some other online readers, but this is definitely my favourite at the moment.

Zip-line . . . ek bedoel foefieslide

Verlede Sondag het ek gaan zip-line, of soos ons in Suid-Afrika daarna verwys, foefie-slide. Ek het saam met 'n groep mense gegaan na 'n zip-line baan tussen die berge. Ons het 'n reeks van nege bane elk so tussen 80 en 300 meter geniet. Ek het dit alles op video opgeneem maar sedert ek my rekenaar geformateer het, het ek nie videoredigeringsprogramme om enige iets met al die video te maak nie.

Dit was 'n lekker gedoente, maar die hele affêre was bietjie uitputtend omdat dit so ver uit Seoul uit is. Ek moes omtrent 'n uur en half per bus en moltrein ry tot by die punt waar ons as 'n groep ontmoet het en vandaar 'n gehuurde bus na die zip-line plek geneem het, sowat drie ure verder. Oppad terug was die verkeer baie sleg -- ek het uiteindelik eers middernag by die huisgekom. Ek het wel op die bus kans gehad om my mees onlangste moltreinboek, Hemmingway se Farewell to Arms, klaar te lees.

Ek hunker na iets in Afrikaans

Ek is uitgehonger na Afrikaanse leesstof. Ek soek 'n boek wat ek kan lees op die moltrein. Maar hier in Korea is daar slegs drie Afrikaanse boeke op my boekrak. Die Mugu van Etienne Le Roux, Antjie Krog se 'n Ander Tongval en 'n digbundel, "om te lewe is onnatuurlik" van Gert Vlok Nel. O ja, en die Ou Vertaling van die Afrikaanse Bybel, alhoewel ek my Engelse Bybel meer gebruik. My karige versamelingtjie Afrikaanse boeke hier in Korea het ek elk reeds gelees (die Bybel ook).

Sal ek maar weer 'n Ander Tongval lees? Ek het dit die vorige keer baie geniet en dit is allermins kwaliteit Afrikaans.

As enige iemand my 'n groot guns wil doen, stuur asseblief vir my 'n goeie Afrikaanse boek!

En so van die Afrikaanse os tot op die Afrikaanse wa, hier is die Karen Zoid se nuwe single, "Bly By My":



Die album kom aan die begin van November uit, volgens die blog Singing South African-ness.

Let the Right One In

A recent subway read which I finished probably a week ago is the vampire novel Let the Right One In, by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. The Daily Express exclaimed that “Lindqvist has reinvented the vampire novel.” It is a good novel, I agree. About a young boy named Oskar, always bullied at school, who then befriends his new neighbor, Eli, who turns out to be a vampire. A simple enough story, the the main plot is diluted with more and more sub plots. One finishes the book feeling that some of these sub plots were there, not to add to the suspense, not even to reinforce the reoccurring themes like absent fathers and alcohol/blood addiction, but to just thicken the book.

I’ve wrote about the film adaptation of Let the Right One In on this blog before. It was an excellent movie. In fact, it is one of the best vampire films I’ve seen in a very long time and would probably place it on my list of top three vampire movies. The other two would include Interview with a Vampire and Bramstoker’s Dracula.

It is very seldom that I would say that a film adaptation of a novel is better than the original novel. I’ve only said it of one other movie of which I’ve also read the novel. But in this case it is so. I watched the film again, after reading the novel, and understood why it is better. The film is stripped of the excess. The plot is streamlined, the action improved. And by doing so I felt that the focus on the relationship of the two main characters, Oskar and Eli, came much better to the front. It is their story. The story of two unlikely “children” becoming friends.

In this case, skip the novel and watch the film.

My Name Is Asher Lev

I recently read the novel My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, first published in 1972. One of my professors from South Africa told me long ago that I remind her of the main character, a young red headed Jewish boy, whom is an art prodigy. I’ve always wanted to read the book, but never got so far . . . until now.

What surprised me about the book is how much the character Asher and I have in common. I was somewhat shocked that this professor should know so many things about me. Things more obscure than the fact that the main character, Asher, and I both have red hair. I am of Jewish decent (did she know this?) and although I am not of the Jewish faith, I do keep some customs which are ordinarily associated with Judaism. Like Asher, I keep the Sabbath and also only eat kosher food. I would not call myself a child prodigy like the main character, but I have always been very creative and have been ostracized by many of my peers as a child for my “oddness.” Like Asher I suffered from depression as a child, often feeling exhausted without cause and not understanding what was wrong with me. Also, both my mother and this character’s mother suffered from depression. Like Asher, the older I got and the more my sensitivities became apparent the less my father and I had in common. Unlike Asher’s father who pertinently opposed his art, my father merely left me in my mother’s care. Now as an adult I cannot blame my father – he was a car mechanic by trade and a business man by profession. None of these things I had an interest in, nor did these careers equip him with the skills to nurture an overly emotional, creative and artistic boy. Like Asher, as a child I spent numerous hours by myself just drawing. I wish I could say that I became a well known and highly successful artist – I did not. I traded pencil and paint for the typewriter and am still honing my craft.


I often miss expressing myself in lines and shapes, colours and shades. The novel inspired me to do some visual art again. I have many ideas; maybe I’ll still bring them to life. I often lament that I went to study graphic design
– I should have studied fine arts. Sometimes I wonder how my life would have been if I did a masters’ in History of Art, instead of Creative Writing. If I did, I would probably not have worked as a lecturer at a university in Korea. They need people in the (English) language field more than people in the arts. Still, one cannot help but wonder at times how one’s life may have been different had different opportunities come along. But they didn’t. It was a scholarship for Creative Writing that presented itself. And I’m thankful. Writing is a good medium – one can colour with paint and with words. One can give shade with pencils and with metaphors.

I also realised, while reading the novel, that I have another thing in common with main character. Asher’s art was often in contradiction to his religion. Some of my best ideas are things that clash with my religious heritage. Unlike Asher I have not had the fortitude to put them to paper / canvas yet.

Subway Books -- Bookreviews: Lord of the Flies; Spud

I spend roughly around 10+ hours a week on public transport in Korea. That is about two hours for every work day, and occasionally over weekends. To kill this useless commuting time, where one stand or sits for long extended periods, I read. I actually look forward to this reading time, as I seldom have the time to read in my “normal” time during the day or even evenings, as I’m usually busy preparing for classes. I call these books my “subway books,” for that is where I do most of the reading.

I like to write little "reviews" of these books, mostly for my own benefit so that I can come back to my reviews in the future and be reminded of the attitudes and impressions I had of the book at the time I read it. Unfortunately, since this semester started (in August) I haven’t written one review, as I just haven’t had the time. The last review I wrote was in July on The Old Man and the Sea. I’ve probably read ten books since then.

Allow me to catch up on a couple of books:

Lord of the Flies

William Golding’s novel about a group of school boys getting stranded on a deserted island during a World War have always been on my reading list. As a literature major there are many classics that one have come in contact with on so many numerous times that one actually “knows” the story, but without ever having read it. Nonetheless, I was determined to read it eventually and get acquainted with the primary material.

The story records the inevitable moral decay of a society where law and authority is absent. Slowly the innocence of the children, especially the older ones, starts to crumble and our (humanity’s) inherent selfishness (i.e. sinfulness) comes to the front. It is the choir boys, those typically associated with the high arts and religious settings, who become most barbaric. And it is especially when they start to paint their faces—while hidden behind masks—that they perform the worst atrocities.
That Golding should highlight this issue of “hiding behind masks,” I thought, was especially insightful. It reminds me of Philip Zimbardo's “How ordinary people become monsters . . . or heroes”:

Does it make a difference if warriors go to battle changing their appearance or not? Does it make a difference if they're anonymous in how they treat their victims? We know in some cultures they go to war, they don't change their appearance. In other cultures they paint themselves like "Lord of the Flies." In some they wear masks. In many, soldiers are anonymous in uniform. So this anthropologist, John Watson, found 23 cultures that had two bits of data. Do they change their appearance? 15. Do they kill, torture, mutilate? 13. If they don't change their appearance only one of eight kills, tortures or mutilates. The key is in the red zone. If they change their appearance, 12 of 13 -- that's 90 percent -- kill, torture, mutilate. And that's the power of anonymity.

It is well worth watching Philip Zimbardo discussion of Evil on TED.

(AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma -- Source)

The shocking thing to me about this is how recent events at the G20 meeting in Pittsburg (USA) again proved these findings: the militia brutalized civilians while hidden behind their Storm Trooper outfits. In the anonymity of their “masks” they performed unthinkable acts in the name of the law; things they would be ashamed to do “in the nude,” so to speak.

While I didn’t find the writing to be particularly good, it is the message—communicated clearly—that makes this classics one of the great and ever apt books, from the 20th century.

Spud

Another book about children is by the South African author John van de Ruit. "Spud" is the nickname for a South African boy named John Milton, who, like his name sake, has a knack for writing. Spud gets a scholarship to go to a high-class school, where he stays in the dormitory with a weird, but interesting, collection of boys. This bildungsroman is written as a diary, in which Spud share the numerous crazy events through his first year at high school. This was one of the funniest novels I have read in a very long time and I’m looking forward to reading the next two novels in the series. It also brings out some of the strange (but nevertheless true) oddities in South African culture. "Spud" is a great book for South Africans that want to laugh at themselves, as well as for non-South Africans that want to get to know a little of the culture seldom seen from the outside.

In many ways I could associate with the main character, which of course made the book ever more enticing to read. We would have been around the same age, judging by the socio-political events occuring in the novel, and Spud and I read most of the same books.

Apparently Spud is being made into a movie; I hope it will be as enduring as the novel.

Book Review: Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man

A week ago I completed Joseph Heller’s Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man. What a treat it was! Of course Catch-22, which is Heller’s break through novel that also made that phrase, "Catch-22", part of the common English vernacular, is one of my all-time favourite books. I haven’t read anything else by Heller except for Catch-22. The latter I have read, I think, at least three times. So when I picked up Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, it was with much anticipation. I wasn’t disappointed.

Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man is nothing like Catch-22. Thematically it is much different, although, I guess, the theme of discontentment may be shared. Both books are postmodern, but they go about being postmodern in very different ways. Catch-22 reveals fragmented plots within one narrative framework. In other words, there are different stories, all told within the same context (i.e. a world war), and if I remember correctly, by the same narrator. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, on the other hand, is also fragmented, but the fragmentation is more diverse. Different stories (narratives) and there are frequent jumps in narrative levels. In other words, the narrator may at times be the overarching narrator (the implied author), at other times it is the main character which just happens to be an author as well, and at other times it is a character invented by the main character. Often jumps occur up and down these narrative levels within in any given passage.

As a scholar of Postmodernism I really enjoyed this well executed postmodern text. While I won’t suggest everyone to read Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man (it’s not everyone’s cup of tea), I will definitely recommend it to other writers, whom will most likely find much resonance with the “author”, those interested in creative writing, as well as to people that enjoy good postmodern craftsmanship.

Trivia: The title clearly refers to James Joyce's book: Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, considered one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. Heller's novel is also somewhat biographical as it depicts his own frustrations as an author whom is never quite able to set the same standard with his later novels as he did with his first. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man is Heller's final novel. It was published posthumously.





...ooOoo...

My current subway read is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which fits nicely in with the British Romantic Poetry I'm currently teaching.

Boekresensie: Die Mugu

Ek het gister my resente moltreinboek klaar gelees. Die Mugu (1959) van Etienne Leroux word beskou as een van die klassieke tekse binne die Afrikaanse kanon. Net voor my onlangse vertrek terug na Korea het ek my kopie gekry by ’n vriend en Afrikaanse dosent aan die Noordwes-Universiteit. Ek was aanvanklik aangeraai deur ’n professor aan die selfde departement om Die Mugu te lees, omdat sy van mening was dat ek dit interesant sal vind weens my meestersgraadnavorsing wat gehandel het oor “Die skep en voorstelling van ’n postmoderne karakteridentiteit in prosa”.

Nou ja, wat kan ek sê omtrent díe roman? Inderdaad ’n teks van sy tyd. Leroux se fyn observering van die mense teen die laat 1950s is baie goed. Buiten vir Gysbrecht Edelhart, die hoofkarakter, is daar seker twee ander karakters wat baie belangrik is weens hulle polariteit. Die een is Julius Johnson, die besigheidsman en simbool vir orde. Daarteenoor staan Juliana Doepels – die (mal?) anarchis. ’n Ander tweespalk is Gysbrecht, ’n middeljarige man, teenoor die eendsterte (rebelse jongmense).

Die Mugu gee ’n mens ’n verassende blik op Kaapstad se mense rondom daardie tyd. Natuurlik is die karaktes stereotipes, maar daar is waardevolle waarnemings te herken in stereotipes. ’n Genotvolle storie, wat teen die einde vir my bietjie begin sloer het. Nietemin ’n boek wat elke Afrikaanssprekende een of ander tyd behoort te lees.

Die karakter Juliana Doepels, met haar pruik, grootbrille, aasvoëlgedaante en apokaliptiese sentiment is mynsinsiens een van die mees interesante karakters in die Afrikaanse literatuur. Haar klimaktiese toespraak, waarvan ek hieronder seleksies weergee, is my gunsteling deel van die boek. Moontlik omdat ek self bietjie van ’n anarchistiese streep het.

Op ’n seepkissie het Juliana Doepels, omring deur die Parademengelmoes, haar toespraak begin. Die kring om haar word groter namate nuuskieriges bykom en spoedig deelneem aan die honende tussenwerpsels van goedige gejou. Sy het haar spesiaal vir die geleentheid verklee en lyk sprekend op Sister Carrie met haar outydse swart rok.

"Ek het ’n studie gemaak," skreeu sy. "Ek het die saak van al die kante bekyk en tot die slotsom gekom dat in die lig van julle teenswoordige denke julle nooit sal verander nie. Elkgeen van julle is ’n klein tronkie wat die gees gevange hou en Julius Johnson en sy soort is die bewaarders. In die aand gaan julle slaap, in die oggend staan julle op, gedurendedie dag werk julle sonder gevoel en toewyding. Julle sit in chroomkafees en sien Hollywoodmatinees op Saterdae. Party can julle drink sjerrie en dans die kwêla; die ander ooreet hulle met vleis en geelrys en bewaard die valse sedes. Julle teel soos konyne aan en siektes rooi julle nie eens meer uit nie."

"Julle word nie uitgeroei nie want julle is self ’n siekte. Julle versprei soos kieme en besmet die aarde. Lank leef die atoombom! Lank leef radioaktiwiteit! Mag julle spoedig uitbrand en die aarde in vrede laat."

"Toe julle minder was, toe daar ruimte was, het die natuur oorheers en was julle grappig, pateties, kleurryk en selfs indrukwekkend. Maar nou is julle ’n vloek, ’n onkruid wat dreig om die wêreld in te neem. Julle teer op alles -- op die hele natuur. Julle vrye wil is verstomp. Julle is slagoffers van ’n illusie en so blik soos vlermuise. Julius Johnson is die hoofvlermuis, bewaarder van die orde, die skerp kop van die doellose piramide. Vervloek is julle! Ek, Juliana Doepels, beaam die vloek wat alreeds op julle rus!"

"By elkeen van julle mag nog miskien die kiem van teenstand, die laaste flikkering van die oorspronklike trots wees. Maar krap ’n bietjie, stel die eis, en julle kollektiewe patroontjies kruip uit, gryp die liggaam en draf saam met die miljoene miere rigtingloos en vernietigend oor die moeë aarde. Lank leef julle sedes! Lank mag julle die sekes verkrag met vroom gesigte! Lank leef julle liefde sodat selfs die kinders in verset kom en met selfbespotting, selfkastyding, aangetrek soos narre, die noodlot kortpad tegemoetgaan! Lank leef die orde wat julle verander het van ’n middel vir selfbeskerming tot ’n tronk vir almal! Lank leef vryheid wat julle in ’n spotwoord omgeskep het! Lank leef die held wat julle tot julle ewebeeld afgetakel het! Lank leef die God wat julle van voor af kruisig!"

...ooOoo...

Joseph Heller’s Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man (2000) will probably be my next subway read.

Book Review: Philsophy -- The Basics

I finished one of my subway-reads a day or two ago.

In 2004 the 4th edition of Philosophy: The Basics, by Nigel Warburton, was printed; and by 2008 it was in its fourth reprint; clearly a good seller. I found it a nice introduction to philosophy covering the prominent philosophical topics: God, Ethics, Politics, Reality, Science, Mind and Art. For each Warburton introduces some of the main ideas and also some common arguments against these ideas (and occasionally counter-arguments against the arguments).

It is definitely a good introductory book to philosophy. It is regretful that an attentive reader is able to infer Warburon’s personal preferences from his writing. This is especially unfortunate for a book of this type – an introduction to philosophy, which I believe ought to be consistently unbiased. While Warburton does supply good arguments for and against the major topics, his writing gives away (although not overtly) his preferences to some ideas.

Philosophy: The Basics is a good introductory book, but for referencing I’d rather consult a Dictionary of Philosophy.







...ooOoo...

I think my next subway-book will be Die Mugu, by Etienne Le Roux.

Boekresensie (Deel 2): Die Nihilisme

Hierdie resensie oor Die Nihilisme: Notas oor ons tyd (2007), deur Danie Goosen, volg op deel een.

Ek het besluit om vir eers my lees van Die Nihilisme te staak. Aanvanklik het ek gedink ek sal deur die boek swoeg, dalk raak dit beter. Wel my hoop is op. Ek is twee-derdes deur die boek, en daar is steeds bitter min gesê oor “ons tyd”. Goosen kerm steeds net voort oor die “dramaturgie” en die “dramaturgiese gemeenskap”. Ek dink wat my die meeste frustreer van die boek is die misleidende titel. ’n Baie meer gepaste titel sou “Die Dramaturgiese Gemeenskap: Notas van toeka tot nou” gewees het.

Moet my nie verkeerd verstaan nie, Die Nihilisme het sy oomblikke en ek het ’n paar paragrawe in my kopie met potlood onderstreep. Nietemin, daar is vir my net te veel wat my dwars in die krop steek, dat ek nie lus het om verder te lees nie. Dis soos om koffie te drink en bewus te raak dat die melk suur is. Hoe langer jy daaraan drink hoe slegte raak die koffie.

Die grootste hindernis vir my omtrent die boek is Goosen se keuse van die dramturgie as geskikste metafoor om oor die huidige tydsgees te praat. Ek dink nie die dramaturgie is die beste keuse nie. Daarom frustreer die lees van die boek my. Ons stem oor die basiese aannames nie saam nie, so ’n verdere diskoers is feitlik onmoontlik.

Goosen vind, byvoorbeeld, ’n kohesie tussen die filosofiese dramatologie (waaroor hy gaande is) en die hoë Middeleeue; en sê dan dat die “dramatologie het ook ’n sin vir kontinuïteit met die verlede...” Dit bring hy in kontras met die “modernistiese en postmoderne atomisme” (159). Selfs ’n beginner in die Postmodernisme behoort te kan uitwys dat Goosen hier iets mis het. Die Postmodernisme bied in sy essensie kontinuïteit met die verlede weens sy inherente inklusiewe aard. Goosen noem die Middeleeue ’n “gemeenskap van gemeenskappe”, mynsinsiens ’n baie akkurate beskrywing van die Postmodernisme – iets wat Goosen óf ignoreer óf onkundig oor is.
“Die modernistiese dualisme”, sê Goosen, “slaan om in ’n postmodernistiese monisme...” Ondanks sy retoriek is ek geensins oortuig dat die Postmodernisme ’n “monisme” tot gevolg het nie. Hy skryf verder dat “...die postmodernistiese inploffing van gemeenskap in ’n indifferente eenselwigheid...” ontaard. ’n Ondersoek na die Postdmodernisme, soos te sien in die hedendaagse mense, toon mynsinsiens glad nie “’n indifferente eenselwigheid” nie.

Goosen het ook ’n hinderlike manier om stellings te maak, dan ’n vraag te vra, en dan homself te antwoord. Elke af en toe kry ’n mens hierdie hangende vraagsnedes, soos “Waarom?”. Aan wie vra hy die vraag? Aan homself? Aan my? Ek weet nie of die bedoeling is om die leser meer betrokke te kry nie, maar ek voel effens beledig dat die outeur gedurig vrae namens my vra – soos televisie komedies met ingeboude lagsnitte, wat my wil voorsê wanneer ek iets snaaks moet vind.

Onthou jy die definisie van Goosen vir die Modernisme wat ek in die vorige deel aangehaal het? Wel ek het intussen op ’n beter definisie van die Modernisme deur Goosen afgekom:

“Die moderniteit is in ’n gewisse sin van die woord niks anders as die isoleringsakte waarvolgens die wil uit sy samehang met die rede geabstraheer en tot ’n selfstaande werklikheid verabsoluteer is nie.”

Dis nog steeds nie geskik vir ’n verklarende woordeboek nie, maar ek dink dis die beste beskrywing in die boek te vind. Indien jy hierdie definisie moeilik vind om te herkou; wel, dus hoe die hele boek tot dusver is.

Dis sekerlik moontlik dat die trefkrag van die teks juis in daardie laaste derde lê waarmee ek moed op gegee het; soos N T Wright, die Biskop van Durham, op ’n keer gesê het: ’n boek is soos ’n boom, die wortels moet stewig gelê wees voordat die boom ordentlik kan staan, waarop sy pa gereageer het: Ek het nog altyd meer van die boonste blare gehou. Nietemin, ek gaan nou vereers my lees van Die Nihilisme staak. Ek kan nie sien dat die oorblywende derde van die teks my behoefte gaan vervul nie en waar ek in die verlede uitgesien het na my moltreinlees, sien ek deesdae op daarna. Dalk sal ek tog eendag die res lees. Ek hou nie daarvan om dinge onafgehandel te laat nie.

Wat ek geniet het van die boek is die goeie gebruik van Afrikaans as wetenskapstaal. Goosen verdien ’n pluimpie daarvoor. Dit is ook sekerlik ’n baie goeie boek vir enige iemand wat belangstelling in die filosofiese dramaturgiese tradisie het. Volgens die uitgewer, Praag, heers daar "ongekende belangstelling in Die nihilisme wat as ’n filosofiese kragtoer bestempel word, asook een van die die grootste intellektuele publikasies tot nogtoe in Afrikaans". Ek haal my hoed af vir beide Goosen en Praag om so ’n projek in Afrikaans te geonderneem het.

Intussen het ek vir my ’n C. S. Lewis-omnibus gekry wat The Abolition of Man insluit wat ek reeds begin lees het. The Abolition of Man sal waarskynlik my nuwe leesteks vir my moltreinritte wees.

Boekresensie (Deel 1): Die Nihilisme

Danie Goosen se filosofiese rede in Die Nihilisme: Notas oor ons tyd (2007) is nie ’n maklike lees nie. Ek is sowat ’n derde deur die boek en daar is soveel dinge waarop ek wil reaggeer dat ek besluit het om maar solank my resensie oor die boek te begin. Ek het besluit om my resensie oor Die Nihilisme in dele te doen; hierdie is Deel 1.

Soos feitlik almal bewus is, lewe ons in die sogenaamde Postmodernisme. Ek beskou myself goed vertroud met die Postmodernisme. Die titel vir my meestersgraadverhandeling is: “Die skep en voorstelling van ’n postmoderne karakteridententeit in prosa”. Vir my studie het ek baie boeke omtrent die postmodernisme gelees. Byna al die boeke wat op daardie stadium in die universiteitsbiblioteek was, wat enigsins met postmodernisme te make het, het ek onder oë gehad. Baie daarvan het ek deurgelees. Let wel, deurgelees; nie bloot gespoedlees (“scan”) nie.

Ek het groot ’n belangstelling in hierdie onderwerp en dis om hierdie rede dat die onderopskrif van Goosen se boek, “notas oor ons tyd”, my aandag getrek het. En inderdaad, Goosen maak dit vanaf die openingsmomente duidelik dat sy narratief gaan handel oor die Modernisme en Postmodernisme en hoedat hierdie tydsgeeste Nihilisme tot gevolg het.

Dit is allermins hoekom ek die boek gekoop het, en nou begin lees het.

Wel, ek het nou al oor die honderd en dertig bladsye gelees en moet getuig dat Goosen nog bitter min te sê gehad het oor ieder die Modernisme, nóg die Postmodernisme. Sover het Goosen feitlik die heeltyd gefokus op die dramaturgie as metafoor vir die wêreld. Bladsy na bladsy swoeg ek deur die ontwikkeling van die dramaturgie, die dramaturgie as filosofiese motief, die dramaturgie as geskikte metafoor vir die wêreld, en so meer.

Ek kan dit vir Goosen in drie reëls met behulp van Shakespeare opsom (uit Jacques se monoloog in die verhoogstuk, As You Like It [2/7]):

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;

Ta-daa!

Kan ons nou tot die punt kom asseblief?

Nee ons kan nie. Ek begin nou eers, op bladsy 137, met hoofstuk drie: Die dramaturgiese gemeenskap.

So wanneer ons uiteindelik by die “notas oor ons tyd”, maw die Postmodernisme, gaan uitkom weet nugter alleen. Ek kan nie eers in die inhoudsopgawe soek vir die relevante hoofstukke, as doelwitte om na uit te sien nie, want daar is nie ’n inhoudsopgawe nie!

Maar kom ons kom terug na wat Goosen wel sover oor die Modernisme en die Postmodernisme te sê gehad het. Hy begin in die eerste paragraaf van die hoofstuk een met die volgende stelling:

“So het die modernisme vanaf die 1960’s en 70’s nie net die epog van die postmodernisme geword nie, maar ook die epog van die post-religieuse, die post-metafisiese, die post-historiese, die post-politieke, die post-humane, die post-etiese en die post-estetiese” (Goosen, 2007:22).

Hierdie enkele sin sê vir my dat Goosen dalk teoreties die Postmodernisme vir homself gekonkretiseer het, maar dat hy heeltemal uitvoeling is met die postmoderne mens. Al daardie “post”-samevoegings van Goosen is dalk waar vir die Modernisme, maar ek dink glad nie so geldig vir die Postmodernisme nie. Die Modernisme was inderdaad die epog waarin religie ontmag is, die wetenskap die metafiese ontsê het, en die estetiese geëindig het in witverf op ’n wit doek, of ’n leë musiekblad; in lyn met Goosen se gevolgtrekking – nihilisme.

Dit is moontlik dat ek Goosen verkeerd lees, maar my verstaan van die Postmodernisme is geensins dat dit nihilisties is, soos wat Goosen “post-” beskryf nie. Terwyl die Modernisme religie ontklaar gemaak het, het religie in die Postmodernisme, mynsinsiens, weer herleef. Nie noodwendig in die vorige ortodokse strukture (maw die kerk) nie, maar as iets meer organies en natuurlik. Die meeste hedendaagse mense is nie Modernisties Ateïsties nie. Vir die meeste mense bestaan daar ’n metafisiese. Die verskil is bloot ’n verskuiwing vanaf aanmatige gestruktureerdheid, tot ’n meer natuurlike, of intuïtiewe “geestelikheid”. Vra die standaard Generarsie X’er of sy godsdienstig is, en jy sal hoor dat sy sê, nee nie godsdienstig nie (ek gaan nie kerk toe nie), maar spiritueel (“not religious, but spiritual”).

Ek het nog baie te sê oor daardie een sin van Goosen, maar laat ek aan beweeg.

Iets waarmee ek saam stem is Goosen se idee dat die postmoderne mens ’n tuisteloosheid ervaar – ’n tipe wêreldverlies. Maar dan gaan hy verder deur te beweer dat die Postmodernisme sonder gemeenskap is. Hiermee stem ek nie saam nie. Daar is beslis gemeenskappe (veeltallige gemeenskappe!) in die Postmodernisme, meerso as tydens die Modernisme. Die groot verskil is dat die Modernisme se gemeenskappe was/is geforseer (óf gereduseer) tot gedwonge sisteme. Daarinteen vorm die hedendaagse (postmoderne) mens spontane gemeenskap gebasseer op gedeelde belange en belangstellings. Die postmoderne mense is deel van verskeie subkulture. Neem myself as voorbeeld: Ek het ’n historiese kulturele gemeenskap, maar ek is ook deel van verskeie ander subkulture; belangstellingsubkulture, onder meer ’n Taekwon-Do en krygskuns subkultuur, ’n parkour-subkultuur; verskillende Internetgebasseerde gemeenskappe (byvoorbeeld die blogosfeer); ek is selfs in gemeenskap met mense via die Internet wat ek nog nooit fisies ontmoet het nie. Die Postmodernisme is geensins ontneem van gemeenskappe nie – inteendeel. Die verskil is bloot dat dié gemeenskappe nie meer lyk soos vroeër nie. Die tradisionele familiekring is van minder belang as die vriende kring. Nasionalisme maak plek vir globale interaksie met mense wat ’n gedeelde deler het. En so aan.

Wat sy verdere ontleding van die Postmodernisme betref, fokus Goosen onder andere op die linguistiese aard van die Postmodernisme, en haal Gadamer aan wat sê: “...this world is verbal in nature...” (Ibid, 72.) Baie postkritiese denkers is dit eens dat die Postmodernisme om taal spil, maar ek wonder of dit ’n genoegsaam omvattende onderskraging van die Postmodernisme is.

Eerder as taalmatig, is die Postmodernisme nie dalk visueel nie? Het die woord nie dalk plek gemaak vir die beeld nie? (Ek wens iemand wat iets te sê het oor die Postmodernisme wil bietjie iets nuuts sê.)

Verdere kritiek op Die Nihilisme, is nie Goosen se rasionaal nie, maar eerder die retoriese uiteensetting en toeganklikheid van die teks. Alhoewel Goosen uit sy pad gaan om dinge soos die dramaturgie te bespreek, los hy sekere van die ander hoofbegrippe in die teks, soos “syn”, grootliks ongedefiniëer. Wanneer daar wel definisies aangebied word, raak dit so abstrak dat dit van wynige waarde is. Neem byvoorbeeld hierdie definisie van die Modernisme: “...die modernisme [kan] beskryf word as dié kulturele geheel van dinge ingevolge waarvan daar nie net ’n abrupte breuk tussen transendensie en immanensie, eenheid en verskil in die werklikheid ingevoer word nie, maar ingevolge waarvan daar tegelyk ook ’n onvermoë bestaan om genoemde breuk tot ’n gedifferensieerde eenheid op te voer” (Ibid., 134, 135). Verbeel jou om daardie definisie vir die Modernisme in ’n woordeboek te lees! Mynsinsiens is so ’n definisie selfs vir ’n filosofiese woordeboek ongeskik.

Tensy jy ’n matige kennis van die filosofie het, twyfel ek of die gewone leser enige maklike invalshoek tot die boek kan hê. Goosen bied eenvoudig nie aan die leser ’n geleidelike oploop tot die teks nie.

Daar is meer te sê, maar ek gaan my vereers met die voorafgaande berus.

Next subwaybook

I've just decided what my next subway read will be -- C. S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man. I'm already looking forward to it. There are two problems though. (1) The book I'm currently reading, Danie Goosen's Die Nihilisme is a slow read, so it will be long before I'll start with my next subway book. (2) I don't have The Abolition of Man.

On the other hand, it might not be a good decision to read two philosophical texts one after the other. Maybe I should read a short novel before I start The Abolition of Man. I may even consider a Shakespeare play. It's been over a year since I last read any Shakespeare.

Book Review: Finding Flow

Today I finished reading my latest subway-novel, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (1997). Finding Flow is Csikszentmihalyi’s follow up to his very successful book, Flow; it is supposed to be the practical application of Csikszentmihalyi’s research.



“Flow” is that emotional/psychological state when you are so engaged in an activity, with undivided attention, that you you lose yourself in it -- lose all concept of time. Surprisingly, Csikszentmihalyi’s research does not show that people that engage in lots of flow-activities are necessarily happier. He does assert (although the research is lacking) that people who engage in many flow-activities have a better quality of life.

I will accept Csikszentmihalyi’s assertion that people that have “engaged” lives are more likely to have a better quality of life.

Unfortunately Finding Flow is not really a practical DIY-guide. I found it to be out of sync with its target market. There is some valuable information in it, but you have to read through all kinds of statistics and anecdotes to get to it. And even when you find it, it is not clearly highlighted for ease of use.

Here is the gist. The following are mostly paraphrased quotations.

• Get into the habit of doing everything with concentrated effort; with skill rather than inertia. (Even if it is doing the dishes.)
  
• Make an effort to spend some time everyday in doing or learning new things; or doing those things which you enjoy doing but don’t find the time to do.
  
• If you are interested in something you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it.
  
• The important thing is to enjoy activities for their own sake, rather than doing activities for their end goals. (E.g. Run, because it is nice to run, not because you want to get to the goal line.)
• Goals are important, not in order to achieve them, but to help you in not getting distracted.
• Thinking too much about on yourself and your issues will make you depressed. Focus your attention outside of yourself.
• Quality of life is improved if we learn to love those things that we have to do. (E.g. Learn to love doing the dishes.)
• Avoid things that contribute to entropy. Participate in things that combat entropy.
  

I was disappointed with this book. Maybe my expectations were off-track, or the book’s marketing, as a type of psychological self-help book, was misleading. I’m keen to think the latter. What really irritated me about Finding Flow is that it turned into an evolutionistic-New Age propaganda attempt, sugar-coated with some statistics and extrapolations. I also got the idea that Csikszentmihalyi had so little new to say on the topic that he had to fluff-up this book with unnecessary blah-blah.

...ooOoo...

My next subway book is Die Nihilisme: Notas oor ons tyd ("Nihilism: notes on our zeitgeist") by Danie Goosen.

Boekresensie: 'n Ander Tongval

Ek het vroeër vanweek Antjie Krog se ’n Ander Tongval klaar gelees. Wat ’n goeie boek!

’n Ander Tongval is ’n outobiografiese vertelling van Krog se lewe, maar dit verval nie tot daardie tipiese selfgesentreerdheid wat outobiografieë kenmerk nie. In plaas hiervan kontekstualiseer Krog haar lewe binne verskye gemeenskappe wat van klein na groot uitkring. Krog is nie los van die plaas waar sy groot geword het nie, nie los van Kroonstad waar sy skoolgegaan en ook skoolgehou het nie, nie los van die Vrystaat waar sy skouer teen skouer, swart en wit, gemarch het teen die ou regime nie, nie los van Suid-Afrika se nuwe-wording nie. Nie los van die ander skrywers in Afrika nie. Selfs nie los van haar toekoms as Afrikaan nie of haar voorgeslagte in Nederland nie.

Met die lees van ’n Ander Tongval lees ons nie bloot die storie van een van Suid-Afrika se bekroonste skrywers nie; want ’n skrywer skryf nooit alleen nie en so ontvou die reis om verkenning na die imbongi’s, Suid-Afrika se prysdigters, die storievertellers van die Kalahari, die griots in Timboektoe.

’n Ander Tongval is gelyktydig ’n soeke na persoonlike identiteit van ’n witmens in ’n donker Afrika, maar ook ’n soeke na Suid-Afrika se identiteit na 1994. Wyl Country of My Skull (2002) ’n meer objektiewe kreatiewe verslaggewing was van Suid-Afrika se identiteitsverandering, is ’n Ander Tongval ’n subjektiewe vertelling van Krog se identiteitsverandering en op ’n veeltolkige manier kry sy dit reg om die leser ook te lei deur sy of haar eie vertolking van so ’n identiteitsverandering.



Die boek het gesorg dat ek ’n klompkeer hardop lag op die moltrein sodat die Koreane rondom my alle selfbeheersing moet gebruik om nie te gluur nie. Dis ’n boek met insig, wat jou diep laat dink oor ons land en ons mense. Dis ’n boek wat jou dwing om te vra: waar staan jy?, wie is jou gemeenskappe?, wie is jou mense? Dis ’n boek wat maak dat jy wonder oor jou (en ook ander mense) se toiletmaniere.

Book Review: The Shack

I’ve just finished my first subway book. Whenever I go on the subway I take a book with me to read. And I’ve hardly been back in Korea now for three weeks, and in the little time I spent since my return I got to finish this book which I bought shortly after my arrival.

The Shack, by William P. Young, is sure to become one of those Christian Classics. It has already been compared to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I’m not fond of reading so-called Christian novels, but after hearing from reliable sources that this book resembles much of my own theology I decided to read it. And I am really glad I did. The Shack is a fantastical book (not as in “fantastic”, but as in “fantasy”), although it seems to claim to be biographical. I read it as an allegory.

The Shack recounts the experience of a man that spends a weekend with God – a big African-American women (among other manifestations) – in a shack. The interactions are often humorous. Which is a good thing as the age old religious dilemma – If God is good, why does bad things happen – is not an easy topic.

Let me start with the negatives. Personally I think The Shack is not really good literature. It might just be my background as a literature major that had exposed me to so much great literature that The Shack seems amateurish. And from my vantage point as a creative writing major, I could see that the author tried too hard. The metaphors seem forced at times. My creative writing professor always said after you’ve drawn a picture of a donkey, don’t write underneath it: “A donkey”. And this is exactly what Young does too often. If there is sarcasm in the dialogue he would add: Said he sarcastically. This might just be a personal peeve, but I found it distracting.

On the other hand, the picture Young portrays of God is beautiful. It is indeed the view I’ve come to except of God through personal wrestling with the topic. It is the view of God that gets me excited when I talk about God and I’m glad that many more people will get an opportunity to see God in this way. The book downplays (even scorns) the role of religion and asserts the importance of relationship instead. (It is therefore quite in tune with postmodern sensibilities.) The importance of freedom of choice to insure the existence of love (because love can only exist where there is freedom to choose to love or not) is emphasized.

I have two personal theological concerns with the book. The first regards the idea of the dead being “alive” somewhere (presumably heaven). A thorough study of the Bible does not support the notion that the souls/spirits of people usually go to heaven (or hell) after death, but rather that they “sleep” until the resurrection.

Secondly, the book seems to hold strongly to the penal justification/substitution atonement theory. Which is of course a Biblical view and the one upheld by most protestants traditions. But penal substitution (the idea that Jesus paid the penalty of our sins on the Cross on our behalf) is one of many atonement theories, and which I think should not be overemphasized in place of the other Biblical atonement theories. What God (in Christ) did for humanity is a mystery that will keep the universe in contemplation for eternity. All these atonement theories are merely metaphors that give us a glimpse into different aspects of Christ’s ministry. Overemphasising one atonement theory is bound to give a skewed image of God.

I would still suggest people to read this book. After all, the book is a novel and do not pretend to be a dogmatic exegesis. There are probably a number or erroneous "theology" in the book, however, The Shack can quickly convey an image of God that took me years to discover.